You are responsible for knowing the distracted driving laws while motoring in any state or municipal area.

See also: State distracted driving laws chart.

View distracted driving laws and legislation by state:

Alabama – Alaska – Arizona – Arkansas – California – Colorado

Connecticut – Delaware – District of Columbia – Florida – Georgia – Hawaii

Idaho – Illinois – Indiana – Iowa – Kansas – Kentucky – Louisiana – Maine

Maryland – Massachusetts – Michigan – Minnesota – Mississippi – Missouri

Montana – Nebraska – Nevada – New Hampshire – New Jersey – New Mexico

New York – New York cities, counties – North Carolina – North Dakota

Ohio – Oklahoma – Oregon – Pennsylvania – Rhode Island – South Carolina

South Dakota – Tennessee – Texas – Utah – Vermont – Virginia

State of Washington – West Virginia – Wisconsin – Wyoming

Interstate truck drivers and bus drivers prohibited from handheld cell phone use and text messaging, due to federal regulations that went into effect Jan. 3, 2012.

No distracted driving legislation found success in 2011 or 2010. A texting ban became law in 2008, but State Police complain it is “a very difficult law to enforce.”

The Legislature returns Jan. 24, 2012.

Current prohibitions:

• Text messaging and Internet use outlawed for all drivers.
• Drivers under the age of 18 with learner’s permits or intermediate licenses are prohibited from using cell phones while driving.

2011 distracted driving legislation:
Senate Bill 18: Would ban use of cell phones by all drivers on Minnesota roads and highways. No exception for hands-free operation. (Wigel)
House Bill 85: Mandates a one-year license suspension for drivers who cause a death by operating a vehicle “carelessly or heedlessly in disregard of the rights or safety of others.” (Murrow)

HB 68: Adds “careless driving resulting in death” section to statutes as a gross midemeanor. Approved by the House Public Safety committee on Jan. 31. (Garofalo)

Distracted driving notes:
State Rep. Frank Hornstein, D-Minneapolis, says a bill is being crafted for 2011 that would toughen the state’s distracted driving law. Minnesota was the third state to approve a ban on text messaging and driving. That law went into effect Aug. 1, 2008. A violation is a petty misdemeanor.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota spoke at the Second Distracted Driving Summit in September, noting “no text message is worth dying for.” Klobuchar is a cosponsor of the Distracted Driving Prevention Act and supports the ALERT Drivers Act, both of which push states to adopt traffic laws against text messaging and handheld cell phone use.

A new state group called Pay Attention and Drive is collecting stories from survivors of distracted driving accidents.

Between 2006 and 2008, there were 60,000 accidents in Minnesota blamed on distracted driving. About 200 lives were lost. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says distracted driving kills 70 people a year and injures another 350. Distracted driving contributes to one in four accidents statewide, resulting in about 70 deaths a year, the department reports.

The Department of Public Safety reported that 930 citations have been written statewide since the August 2008 enactment of the Minnesota text messaging and driving ban (period ending July 2010). In 2009, only 390 tickets were handed out.

Minnesota police conducted a statewide distracted driving crackdown for the second anniversary of the texting and driving ban’s enactment on Aug. 5, 2010. In September, Ramsey County (St. Paul) conducted a text messaging sweep.

The House and Senate transportation committees on March 3 held a joint hearing on cell phone use by drivers. Dave Teater of the National Safety Council and the activist group Focus Driven told how his son was killed by a driver chatting on a mobile phone. Opposing a ban on handheld cell phone use by adults were Verizon Wireless and AT&T. The Verizon spokesman suggested that drivers “if possible suspend the call in heavy traffic.”

Rep. Sandra Masin, D-Eagan, is the chief author of HB 2351.

Mike Jaros, D-Deluth, has sought a complete ban on drivers using cell phones. His stepson was in a vehicle that was rammed by a cell-phoning driver, but survived.

Katherine Burke Moore, deputy director of the Office of Traffic Safety, told the Star Tribune: “We forget that driving is already a multi-tasking activity. Even when we do it every day, we’re checking mirrors, scanning around the car, and watching for brake lights. Any other distraction is unsafe.”

The Department of Public Safety and AAA (Minnesota/Iowa) ran a competition in which teenagers made television PSAs that educate viewers about the dangers of texting while driving. The winning entry was titled “Moms, Alcohol and Texting.”

2010 legislation (dead):
HB 1339: Would outlaw use of handheld cell phones by drivers. School bus drivers and those with instruction permits not allowed to use cell phones at all. Companion to SB 593, below. (Ruud)

SB 593: Seeks to outlaw use of cell phones by drivers, unless a hands-free device is employed. Bans all cell phone use by drivers with instruction permits. Would outlaw use of cell phones by school bus drivers. Companion to HB 1339, above. Approved by the Senate Transportation Committee on March 11 and advanced to a second reading.(Bonoff)